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This is my open and public plea to NBC… PLEASE, NBC… stop the spoilers. Apparently, NBC thinks they should be able to decide whether the fans of the Olympics know what’s going on in other games if we’re recording them.

For those who don’t already know, I watch every bit of the Olympics NBC sees fit to air on TV and right now I’m more than two days behind in everything but the Olympics (I’m almost 12 hours behind in that from when it aired on the east coast). I’m keeping up with hockey, since so many people in Pittsburgh love hockey and getting everyone to cooperate (which they did well) for one day is mean enough. I know everyone will be talking about the men’s hockey USA vs. Slovakia game tomorrow and since we’re in Pittsburgh, many will discuss the games where their other stars are playing (Russia, Canada, etc.), so I’ve chosen to watch no pregame, intermission, or postgame reports and JUST watch the games. I’m watching the USA game first, since I care more about spoilers in that than anything else, but I SHOULD be able to just watch the game safely.

Sadly, this was not the case. I’ve skipped when they were showing clips from the other game, but when Doc Emrick mentions some of the players scoring in the other game WHILE doing the play by play, it gives me two options. 1. Not listen to Doc (which would have the advantage of not having to listen to some of the other stuff, but is not preferred for me) by completely muting the game and avoiding the stick sounds, cheering, etc. and 2. Alternate every minute or so in order to find out what happens in the other game before Doc gets the notification and decides to share it. Neither of these options leave me with a good experience of the games I most want to watch in the Sochi Olympics.

NBC clearly thinks fans don’t care about spoilers. Anyone who has ever watched a sporting event they love when they’ve already known the score or who scores certain goals or runs knows that it is not as exciting when they know the outcome. (In fact, my boyfriend was unsuccessful in avoiding the score and simply isn’t as interested in the game now as he was a few hours ago…) NBC should give the fans the option. They should say and show spoiler alerts before sharing information about other games and events when they are aired concurrently. They should not share any of this information while calling the game they are broadcasting. They need to respect their fans. Without their fans, NBC would not be making any money off of broadcasting the Olympics and it’s always about the money.

If a fan decides to watch games out of order (say watching USA vs. Slovakia before Finland vs. Austria) and an announcer mentions the earlier game without saying it’s a spoiler alert, it’s partially their fault for choosing to watch out of order (always risky). If someone is choosing to watch one game and then another when both air at the same time, they should be allowed to fully enjoy both of those games. Please, NBC… Let your fans fully enjoy all the Olympics you’re choosing to show. We can’t watch everything even if we have several TV’s in one room, quit our jobs, stop sleeping, and watch all the online coverage somehow; but we should be allowed to enjoy the Olympics at our own pace and enjoy everything they own when we finally get to the broadcasts – free of spoilers.

Because of NBC’s choices, I’ve decided to switch to the Slovenia/Russia men’s hockey game when I’m about halfway through the USA game. I’ll watch it until I get to about the same time on the recording (not in the game) and go back to the USA game. I shouldn’t have to do this, but I want to know as little as possible. I haven’t heard any USA/Slovakia updates yet in the play-by-play, but I won’t be surprised if I do.

I love sports and the Olympics are one of my favorite times of the year every other year. I work very hard to avoid scores and information. One of my friends mentioned an article (I have yet to read) saying that fans don’t care about spoilers. Every fan (casual and serious) I’ve discussed this with thinks the idea is ridiculous. Every single one of them cares about spoilers and would love to be able to avoid them. Some of these people can’t for one reason or another (can’t give up their sports talk radio for that long, etc.), but if they COULD enjoy the games they most want to see without the spoilers, they would do it.

Side note: I feel sorry for everyone calling the Slovenian games. Those neon numbers on the white are pretty hard to read even on a 60” LED HDTV with better than perfect vision. I don’t know where the press boxes are located in Sochi, but I’m guessing they’re not super close. I’m a huge fan of Anze Kopitar (and long for a day when most of the the national media broadcasting hockey will finally be able to universally correctly pronounce Anze), but yikes! Those jerseys are loud. Of course, all of Slovenia’s uniforms are bright, but these are also difficult to read…

When freedom of speech was written into the constitution of the United States, cheering for competing sports teams was probably not an important consideration. It’s an important point when going to any sporting event though and many fans seem to forget about this right – especially when their team is losing to the visiting team.

I went to the Ducks/Red Wings game as a fan last night with a friend I was introducing to the sport of hockey. It was really fun to explain penalties (and even the concept of a power play) to someone who really enjoyed the game and all the excitement. We started out in very high (3rd row from the top) seats, but they were still closer than my normal seat in the press box and there really isn’t a bad seat in the Honda Center. I stopped by to say hi to my friends in the press box at intermission (on the other side of the arena from our initial seats) and decided to stay on that side of the arena for the rest of the game. We chose some closer seats not directly in front of or behind other fans, since there were so many empty seats. We actually had a row to ourselves for a while, until some fans moved directly in front of us and we decided to move up another row. In that row, we were sitting a few seats away from some guys who were cheering for the Red Wings. They were nice enough to pose for me to take this picture.
These fans were far from sober, but they weren’t obnoxious. They were cheering for their team. Did they make fun of the Ducks for not even being able to score on a power play? Sure. Who wouldn’t? The Ducks had the only power plays in the first two periods, but the Red Wings were winning.

A Kings fan came by to say hi to the fun Red Wings fans and sat diagonally in front of us. They joked around with each other and talked about how tonight they could get along but the next night (when the Red Wings face the Kings in LA) they would clearly be enemies. Everyone understood that, but people were having fun.

Some of the Ducks fans were not happy with the Detroit fans and started picking on the city of Detroit, which is especially funny to me, since I lived in Anaheim for a while and was burglarized twice in 6 months, so my opinion of Anaheim as a place to live isn’t very high. The Kings fan and a couple of the Ducks fans started arguing back and forth and though the Ducks haven’t been around as long and the Kings fan was a lot younger than the Ducks fans (he’s only been alive for about half the Kings’ history), the Kings fan knew a lot more about his team (even going back to Butch Goring, the Kings’ first captain) than the Ducks fans did.

One Ducks fan turned around and told the Red Wings fans they had to be quiet. Are you kidding? Perhaps THAT is part of the reason Ducks fans aren’t loud often enough. This fan seemed to have the Honda Center confused with her local library. Fans should cheer at a game. That’s part of the reason they attend the game. If you want to watch a game in peace and quiet, STAY HOME. When fans go to a game, they should be allowed to cheer (respectfully) as much as they want. If a fan can’t handle that, she or he should stay far away from sporting events. Sports arenas are supposed to be loud. That’s what the players (and most fans I’ve talked to) want. It’s part of what many fans love about sports – they can support their team. When a fan’s team wins, the fan in attendance feels they are a part of the team’s win. They love and support their team.

Personally, I always have more fun as a fan at a game when there are fans rooting for the other team nearby. The playful banter between intelligent fans is part of what I love about sports. I’m used to being picked on at games, since I’m a Yankees fan living in southern California and the Angels are the only team with a consistent winning record against the Yankees since Jeter joined the club. I always have a witty comeback – even in when my team misses the playoffs (though that’s thankfully rare). If I couldn’t take it, I wouldn’t go to the game.

Later, it looked like the Detroit fans were kicked out of the game, but I talked to the security guard and he said he realized that the Red Wings fans had done nothing really wrong and they all he’d asked them to do is make sure they’re seated while play was in progress and the fans decided to leave because of the poor treatment they received from the other fans. I was very happy to hear that the Red Wings fans hadn’t been kicked out because of some disgruntled Ducks fans.

All the Ducks fans in question left the game early. Sure, their team was losing 3-0 (and ended up losing 4-0), but the Kings fan pointed out that he was there for the whole game Monday night when the Ducks shut out (and completely outplayed) the Kings. The Red Wings are the first place team in the western conference. The fact that they were beating the Ducks is not surprising. The Ducks have been completely inconsistent this season. They’ve been streaky (won 6, lost 6, won 3, now they’ve lost 1) and didn’t look good in many of the games they won. I’ll never understand fans who leave early, but I don’t get fans who have no respect for the opposing team’s fans either. If you can’t handle your team losing occasionally and the fans for the opposing team continuing to cheer, don’t go to a game. Stay home and watch the game only with others who support your team. If you can have fun cheering against the other team’s fans (win or lose – no one likes bad sports), go to the game and cheer for your fans. Don’t waste time arguing with the other fans, cheer for your own team. If you don’t like the fact that the visiting fans drown you out, don’t let them. Cheer louder. It’s pretty simple.

I’d like to thank the Red Wings fans and the Kings fan in front of us. Though many of the Ducks fans were rude to you, my friend really had a wonderful time at the game and you’re partly responsible for that. I think I created a new hockey fan with your help and I’m sure she’ll share the sport with others, so who knows how many hockey fans this chain will produce… Have fun at tonight’s game even though you’re now on opposite sides.